Epidemiology of congenital coronary artery anomalies: a coronary arteriography study on a central European population.

The anatomical patterns and frequency of occurrence of congenital coronary anomalies (CCA) in a Central European cohort has not yet been studied. The angiographic data of 7,694 consecutive patients undergoing coronary arteriography at the Albert Szent-Györgyi Medical University, Szeged, Hungary, from 1984 to 1994 were analyzed. CCA were found in 103 patients (1.34% incidence). Ninety-eight of them (95.2%) had anomalies of origin and distribution, and five (4.8%) had coronary artery fistulae. The incidence was the highest for the separate origin of left descending artery and left circumflex from the left sinus of Valsalva (52.42%). Anomalous origin of the left circumflex coronary artery from the right coronary was 8.7% while from the right sinus of Valsalva 18.4%. CCA, which may be associated with potentially serious events, such as ectopic coronary origin from the opposite aortic sinus (1.9%) and single coronary arteries (3.88%), were not frequent. The incidence of CCA in the Central European cohort under study was similar to that of the largest North American study. The anatomic classification presented can be useful from both clinical and surgical standpoints.